Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), Muzaffarpur, is facing a severe shortage of teaching staff, with 818 assistant professor posts lying vacant across its postgraduate departments and 42 constituent colleges. At present, only 778 teachers are working in these departments and colleges, highlighting the scale of the staffing gap.

The science faculty has the highest number of vacancies. Zoology alone accounts for 93 vacant posts, followed by Chemistry with 85 vacancies, Botany with 80, and Physics with 77. Currently, just 22 teachers are posted in Zoology, 30 in Botany, 32 in Chemistry and 39 in Physics in the university’s constituent colleges.

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A similar situation prevails in the social sciences. Political Science has 82 vacant posts, and History has 77, while only 50 teachers are working in Political Science and 55 in History across constituent colleges.

Recently, the university submitted details to the state government on sanctioned assistant professor posts, existing staff strength and subject-wise vacancies. Following this, appointments have been made in a few subjects. According to Vice-Chancellor Prof DC Rai, assistant professors have been appointed in four subjects so far, seven in Home Science, three in Sociology, 32 in English and 52 in Economics. Appointments have also recently been made in Political Science. However, he acknowledged that teaching posts remain vacant in many subjects and further action is awaited.

Raising concerns over the situation, BRA Bihar University Senate member Prof. Pramod Kumar said that undergraduate enrolment in the university’s constituent colleges has consistently crossed 80,000 students over the past three academic sessions, yet no new teaching posts have been created. He pointed out that the existing sanctioned strength is based on the 1986 budget, when undergraduate enrolment ranged between 30,000 and 40,000 students.

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He added that with the implementation of the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) and the semester system, the shortage of teachers has seriously affected academic quality. Examinations are now held every six months, but due to the lack of faculty, students are often appearing for exams without adequate classroom teaching.

Despite rising enrolments each year, colleges are struggling to provide proper instruction, leading to concerns that they are becoming mere degree-distribution centres rather than institutions of quality higher education.